My real life wardrobe is really struggling lately to stay relevant. Due to my frugality, I don't replace old pieces and pick up new clothes as often as I should in order to have a fully current and versatile wardrobe. I'm working to fix this without over-spending and feeling guilty for not using my money on, say, groceries.

That being said, I went shopping at Macy's on Sunday with my husband. I had a few key pieces in my head that I was looking for, then just had the goal of keeping and open mind and trying a lot of stuff on. I did try a lot of stuff on, but only left with three items. I would have stayed longer, but the husband was growing restless. Anyway, this dress is one of the things I found!

It's the first of it's kind (the skirt/tank top in one) that I've found that flatters me. The silk tiers are flitty and fun without adding too much bulk to my hips like some tiered skirts can. I added the belt over the elastic waist to help "clean it up" a bit and create a more smooth transition between the top and the bottom.

I wore this out to lunch on Monday with my dear husband, then back to a different Macy's afterward to see if I could find the pieces I couldn't find. Those are my $8 Aldo shoes, and they proved really comfortable while buzzing around the racks for an hour or two.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

I have a pair of earrings from Lisa's Lovelies, like the ones shown on the bottom left, except that mine have a dark red bead. I love them and wear them often. They're small enough that the bead part hangs just below the bottom of my ear.

I've had those bone earrings from Tribal Style (upper right) in my favorites for a while now. I love that they give the look of stretched lobes without actually having to stretch your lobes.

I've finally put something together that has left me feeling confident about menswear-inspired oxfords for women. It's been something I wanted to feature, but every time I tried, it just wasn't working. This time I wasn't focusing on the shoe, but the outfit when the shoe just seemed to fit. (That pun was NOT intended!)

The focus of this post was going to be the maxi dress and natural accents... but then I noticed the circles! All of the circles... circle in the dress, circle earrings, circles bracelet... I should have looked for circle shoes, but maybe that would have been overkill. Probably not, but I really liked these wedges I found for this dress.

Monday, July 26, 2010

I used to hate doing laundry. I don't hate it quite as much anymore, since realizing that if I did it more often, it wouldn't be such a pain. Two loads at a time are much easier than five. I still don't prefer it, but these items might make laundry even more tolerable.

This is super casual. I want this outfit so I can wear it every Sunday. I can't get over the tie-dye boat shoes! I love them. The yellow tie-dye is only one option of the 15 options available, so check the link. They're all pretty fun.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

I came across these rings earlier this week on Etsy and just fell in love with them. It's a Sunday Splurge, but really, the price is great for a set of five made-to-order hammered sterling rings. I love the little birds on the wire detail.

This shop is really clever as well. It's called CameraSHY Photography and they offer different kinds of jewelry that feature photographs stating "If a photograph is worth a thousand words, why limit it wall decor?". I love it!

Friday, July 23, 2010

It's time to announce the winner of the giveaway! This lucky person will receive the Vintage Love Paper Garland from MaraMay. It is 25 feet long and features papers in all different kinds of shapes, colors and patterns. It is definitely cheery. Are you ready? The winner is...

Thursday, July 22, 2010

So look! It's an outfit post! A real, look-at-me-in-my-outfit outfit post! This is my first one. It likely won't be a common occurrence, but I had to show you my shoes. My (essentially) $8 shoes finally came yesterday! I opened the package and saw the box; it had the original $100 price tag on it which made me smile. P.S. They're back down to $29.98!

I couldn't wait to test them out, so after my shower, I quickly put on pants and then my shoes. I wore them while I searched for the right top. Then I wore them while I did my hair. Then I wore them while I played with my necklace trying to get to to wrap just right. Then I wore them out to run errands! Do you want to know something? They're super comfortable and I love them. And as you can see by the picture, I also love Quaker Chewy bars. (I also forgot to turn down the ISO, so my picture is grainy. Oh well. I'm showing off my shoes, not my photography skillz.)

P.S. I'm getting my wisdom teeth out today! Wish me luck. I wish you all good luck in the MaraMay Paper Garland giveaway! It ends tonight at midnight. The winner will be announced tomorrow. I can't promise a time, but I'll get the announcement up as soon as I am capable of using a computer.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

We all know the importance of a good statement necklace, but what about the understatement necklaces? Simple necklaces don't have to be boring. Here are a few you can add to your collection that are interesting without over-powering your decolletage.

I'm not sure why they call it "mixing and matching" when it really seems to imply mismatching. I still haven't come up with the styling cojones to mix and match prints in my own wardrobe, but here's one I threw together virtually. I'm still feeling a little self-conscious about it though!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The OC Fair started this past weekend. I'm looking forward to going one of these days this summer. I will break my diet and have a funnel cake with Bavarian custard on top... among other things. This is my 8th year in California, and only last year did I actually go to the fair. Can you believe that? Who skips out on the fair?

Monday, July 19, 2010

Back in May, I featured one of MaraMay's fun garlands in a post titled Party Pizazz. Her garlands are so bright and fun, so I was stoked when she inquired about giving one away here on Hundy&Undy!

Her garlands are so cute. They can be used for party decorations, like how I showed it off previously, or for all the time decorations. The possibilities are really endless. Just string them about anywhere you need a pop of color! Heck, you can even use them in crafts.

Now here is the one we're giving away. The winner of this giveaway will win the Vintage Love Paper Garland. It is 25 feet long and features papers in all different kinds of shapes, colors and patterns. It is definitely cheery.

There are a few different ways to enter. Please remember to leave a separate comment for each entry or else it will only count for one entry! Oh, and throw in your email addy, too, so we can get a hold of you if you are the winner. :)

It's time to announce the winner of the very first Hundy & Undy giveaway! This lucky person will receive these three freshwater pearl stretchy bracelets from my own Etsy shop, Onama. Are you ready? The winner is...

So for whatever reason (must be the sea foam green?) this set makes me think of Lorraine, Marty's mom in Back to the Future. This dress might be too casual for the Enchantment Under The Sea dance, though.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

So I don't usually hop on those fun little blog award trains, just because I like to keep to my theme and aesthetic as closely as possible... BUT. But, I did receive one from who I would consider one of my most enthusiastic and loyal readers and it happened to be one I could build a theme off of.

Kelli G. of Bug Miscellany passed onto me and a few other of her favorite blogs, the Sunshine Award! I immediately knew what I wanted to post, so here it is!

These bracelet sets are really cute and I just had to do a Sunshiny Sunday Splurge post with them!

Friday, July 16, 2010

You may have seen the whole monochrome look in the magazines. Well, I have, and although it looks great on those models, I'm a little weary of it (for) myself. I think I've found a slight way around that with this look. Being that everything in it is fairly neutral, it kind of gives a bit of a monochromatic feel without actually being monochromatic.

Side note: I think this faux wrap romper would look so much better on a curvy lady than it does this model!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

I came across these cute li'l pears today and had to do a kitchen-y French-ish post. I could have added more, but I really liked the photos of all of these items and wanted to keep them big. So you get a super-budget bundle today!

I try not to do two similar posts so close to each other, but I couldn't help myself. I was inspired by those shoes. Do you want to know why? Because they are currently on their way into my possession! I've been lacking a pair of black wedges for a long time, now. A couple months back, while my husband and I were out to dinner, he (yes HE, my husband!) spotted a girl wearing some super slick black wedges and commented on them. Sometimes, when he's feeling romantic, he wants to buy me shoes. Most other times, I have too many shoes and don't need any more. SO! This must have been a romantic moment as he suggested I find a pair of black wedges.

The next day, my husband sends me a link to the exact pair of shoes. I was so impressed at his ability to find those specific shoes. They ended up being these Charles David wedges, and WAY out of our budget. We kept looking and looking, to no avail, to find something comparable and within our shoe budget.

Then on Tuesday, I happened to do another search and found these gorgeous Aldo wedges marked down to $29.99 from $100! Unfortunately, today they are $34.98... so who knows how long they'll be discounted and for how much. But I snagged them at a good time.

Do you want to know how I got MORE of a bargain on them? Aldo sells on Amazon. My husband has an Amazon credit card with which he receives $25 gift certificates from as part of their rewards program. We happened to still have one of said certificates that had yet to be used. So after shipping and using the gift certificate code, we paid a whopping $8 for those beautiful black wedges.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

I absolutely love the retro-futuristic feel to these items. My favorite cartoons on Saturday morning were the ones that showcased things "of Tomorrow". So here are a few items kind of inspired by that time period.

Or the pool for those of us who prefer chlorine over sand. I put this together with prompt from Lillyella's Couture du Jour monthly challenge. The challenge has no budget, so I decided to make it applicable (and more difficult!) and keep it under $100. As you see, I just barely made it! My goal, though, was to create something that could be worn as an outfit, say, if you're going to a pool party or running to the store to stock your cooler before the beach.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Aren't you excited? I know I am. It's my very first giveaway! I've chosen to giveaway one of my favorite bracelet sets from my own Etsy shop. Here, one lucky winner will receive my Confetti Party bracelet set which features three stretchy, freshwater pearl bracelets in bunches of fun colors.

There are a few different ways to enter. Please remember to leave a separate comment for each entry or else it will only count for one entry!

I love just about anything nautical. These ones I've chosen are a bit shabby chic, but don't have that overwhelmingly "country cottage" feel to them. I love that I've been finding, recently, more and more shabby chic decor that doesn't seem dated.

Here in SoCal, we start our summer off with cool and gloomy weather. It's not really what you'd expect if you're not from around here. We call it June Gloom, and this year it's been hanging on into July. So here is an outfit that would be perfect for running errands in the morning. It's casual and comfortable. If you throw your favorite tank or tee under the denim shirt, you'll be ready for when the marine layer finally recedes back to the ocean and allows the sun to warm us up!

Friday, July 9, 2010

I love finding new things to put on my mantle. The key word there being "finding". I still have the same old set of candles and candle holders that I've had ever since we first had a mantle to put things on! But finding is still fun. That's one of the reasons I like to keep this blog: all the finding I get to do on the internet!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Almost any casual outfit can be made a little bit fancy without making you feel over-dressed. I love mixing retro-inspired items from different eras. The shirt is casual, and nods to the 70s and 80s. The scarf seems really mid-century with the color and texture and will add interest. Finally, the shoes help really kick it up and take it way back. Of course, though, they are all modernized, which is what I love about them.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

After a long weekend of moving and not having internet at home for nearly a week, I've become fairly adept at taking advantage of free wi-fi. This post was inspired by my time spent internetting in the public.

Friday, July 2, 2010

So I've recently been introduced to Polyvore and even more recently introduced to their set creator. If you haven't heard of Polyvore, it's a great fashion community where you can shop for items from different websites in one place. Their set creator lets you put together outfits like the ones you find in the magazines. If you've read my introduction, you know that those are what inspired me to create this blog. Once you've created your set, you can share it with the rest of the Polyvore community, as well as Facebook and Twitter, and of course your own blog!

So today I've found myself without internet at home, so I'm at Starbucks using their wi-fi. One problem with this is that I don't have Photoshop on my laptop! So, I've decided that today would be the perfect day to finally test out Polyvore's set creator for myself.

Overall, I think it's a great tool. Being a fairly seasoned Photoshopper, it was a little difficult adjusting to certain limitations, but I am happy with the outcome. It will definitely be something I can use when I find myself without Photoshop, like today, and possibly more. My relationship with my blog is still new and very dynamic, and so will be my relationship with Polyvore.

So, without further ado, my first collection created %100 with Polyvore: